1 Timothy 5:12

1 Timothy 5:12. Having damnation. As in 1 Corinthians 11:29, in the general sense of the word, ‘ coming under condemnation. ‘

Their first faith. We best understand these words by bearing in mind the teaching of 1 Corinthians 7:34. Marriage was in itself honour-able, but it was not compatible with self-consecration to a life of special labour, such as that of the ‘registered' widows. When a widow entered on that life, she practically betrothed herself to Christ. If she again fell back on merely human affections, she was abandoning her ‘first faith,' the love of her espousals. The words suggest the thought that the word ‘widow' might possibly be conventionally extended to include all women who undertook the duties of the order, whether actually such in the common sense of the word or not